10/21/2025
A jury on Monday found a Wilkinsburg man guilty of first-degree murder in the 2022 shooting death of a 15-year-old boy.
Shaun Scott, 21, faces a minimum mandatory sentence of 35 years to life in prison since he was a juvenile at the time Dayvon Vickers was killed.
Scott, who is scheduled to stand trial in November for the fatal shooting of another teen, Maleek Thomas, showed no visible reaction as the verdict was read in a Downtown Pittsburgh courtroom.
But in the back of the gallery, Camille Baskins, Thomas’ mother, cried tears of joy.
“I can’t wait for my turn,” she said.
Scott’s trial before Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Elliot Howsie began Wednesday. The jury started deliberating around midday Monday, returning to the courtroom a short time later with several questions. They asked to rewatch a video from the crime scene, to look at cellphone evidence and be reinstructed on reasonable doubt.
The jurors then returned with their verdict just after 4 p.m., finding Scott guilty on all counts, including carrying a firearm without a license and possession of a firearm by a minor.
Scott, who was 17 at the time of Dayvon’s shooting, will be sentenced Jan. 15. He could get life in prison without parole.
Police said that Scott and another person were on Frankstown Avenue just after 6 p.m. on March 30, 2022, when they saw Dayvon on a minibike across the intersection.
Scott, investigators said, fired three shots. One struck Dayvon in the head.
He died a short time later.
Using video from the street and inside a convenience store, Pittsburgh police identified the shooter as Scott by the next day.
However, he wasn’t charged in Dayvon’s slaying until July — after, police said, he killed Thomas, 18, on June 24, 2022, in the Hill District.
On July 1, 2022, police served a search warrant at Scott’s house on Princeton Boulevard in Wilkinsburg. It was there, they said, that they recovered distinctive black pants believed to have been worn by Dayvon’s killer that day — and visible in the various surveillance videos.
The pants featured large white decals on the front, including the word “hustle,” an image of a chicken, a melting smiley face emoji and a skull and crossbones.
During closing arguments on Monday, defense attorney Frank Walker focused extensively on that singular piece of evidence.
“The pants. The pants. The pants,” Walker said.
Sure, he said, the pants are distinctive.
“But are they custom?” Walker asked. “The only pants (like that) in Allegheny County?”
📰 Trib Live
